An Innovative RFID Sealing Device to Enhance the Security of the Supply Chain

Abstract

One of the most vulnerable elements of the supply chain, from a security point of view, is the commercial container. Due to its nature of transportation vector for goods, it can easily be exploited as a carrier for illegal and dangerous items. In this paper, while acknowledging the need for a global and comprehensive approach to supply chain security, we focus on the security of commercial containers. We discuss the technologies presently used in the field of commercial container security. In particular, we give an overview of the reasearch carried out by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission in the field of supply chain security. We then discuss in-depth the active RFID-based sealing systems designed at the JRC, giving a detailed technological description and presenting the experimental results of the laboratory tests.